European fairs feature fresh color palettes
Carole Sloan, Senior contributing editor -- Furniture Today, February 9, 2009
Change seems to be in the air — not seismic change, but enough to bring freshness and a new look to fabrics and furniture in the near future.
At the Heimtextil fabric show in Frankfurt, Germany, and at the Maison + Objet home furnishings fair in Paris last month, there were definite signs of fresh approaches in color palette and fabric texture.
At Heimtextil, the most decisive trend was the emergence of color — high energy hues rather than in-your-face brights — that livened a landscape that has been dominated for so long by neutrals. These shots of color — clean and crisp — were most frequently seen in shades of lime, hot pink, fuchsia, orange and a full family of purple tones.
Similar colors were featured in the many product categories for home at Maison + Objet, according to reports from a number of observers there.
These fresh new colors were featured on a broad range of products from decorative fabrics to top-of-bed to upholstered furniture, as well as accessory items like pillows and throws.
Shimmer was a novelty style statement with gold, silver and bronze effects used on fabrics from taffetas to damasks to sheers.
Prints still took a back seat both in the fabric world as well as in other home products.
Wovens, meanwhile, took on a fresh look with more patterning, texturing and novelty treatments. And there was a definite statement in scale — dramatic, oversized. Crinkle effects and pleating added a fresh look to solid color fabrics.
All in all, while they were not the most adventuresome in terms of new thoughts and design, these shows did offer clues for new opportunities to create customer interest.
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